Friday, November 8, 2013

Los Angeles County is quite a county. With a population of about 10 million, it's not only the most populous county in the United States, but it has more people than the entire nation of Sweden. It's home of America's aerospace and entertainment industries. It's home to the two largest ports in the U.S.. Los Angeles County has got it all: Mountains, beaches, deserts, even two islands and 88 incorporated cities.

Eighty-eight cities with eighty-eight distinct names (Okay, some of the names aresimilar). And what's in a name? A glimpse of the town's history, that's what. Many of the cities are named after the original Mexican-era ranchos, or even invented (i.e. gringo) Spanish. One is even in French. Some are named after the native Tongva or Chumash. Another is named after a Native American language from the Midwest. Some are named after saints. Others are named after the town's founders, or their native hometowns. And a few are named after lofty, idyllic visions of what their founders wanted their city to eventually be.

So after much Militant research, here it is, the etymology of Los Angeles county's 88 cities, in alphabetical order:

Covina – Named by engineer Fred Eaton (who eventually became Los Angeles Mayor and conceptualized the Los Angeles Aqueduct) after the San Gabriel Mountain valleys, which formed a natural “COVE” around the local “VINE”yards.

Pasadena – Chippewa Native American for “Crown Of The Valley,” suggested by settler Dr. Thomas Elliot, who was recommended the name from a missionary friend from the Midwest who worked with Native American tribes.

Pico Rivera – Named after Mexican California governor Pio Pico, and the local confluence of the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel rivers.

San Marino – Named by founder James DeBarth Shorb after his grandfather’s plantation in Maryland, which was named after the small European republic of San Marino, which was named after Saint Marinus, a 4th-century monk.

Santa Clarita – Invented Spanish for “Little Santa Clara.” Named after the nearby Santa Clara River, but intentionally differentiated from the northern California city of Santa Clara.

Santa Fe Springs – Named after the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway which ran through town, and the local artesian springs.

Santa Monica – Named by Father Juan Crespi, who, upon arriving at Kuruvugna Springs (at modern-day University High School’s campus), thought the waters reminded him of the tears of Saint Monica.

Sierra Madre – Spanish for “mother mountain range,” the original name of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

You may or may not have known already that this has been an historic week in Los Angeles history. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Aqueduct celebrated its 100th anniversary, noting the completion of the 238-mile long water transit system from the Eastern Sierras (which The Militant hopes to visit one day soon!) and enabled Los Angeles to grow over 10 times its size in the next century.

Its opening date right after the Los Angeles Aqueduct was not coincidental at all -- in fact, people who attended the Aqueduct's opening celebration and saw the water arrive were encouraged to visit the museum's opening the next day, and watch the final arrival of the water as it reached the City's water system and created the fountain at the center of the central sunken garden (now today's Rose Garden).

What you may or may not have known was that there was an even grander plan to have a neo-Romanesque 100-foot-tall Los Angeles Aqueduct Memorial placed in Exposition Park (pictured left) in 1913, but the plan was too costly, so they settled for a simple fountain.

Today, there is also an exhibit on the Aqueduct: Just Add Water, a series of Aqueduct-themed art in watercolor by artist Rob Reynolds, began this week and runs until August 3 of next year.

The park was conceived as part of the "City Beautiful Movement" sweeping cities across the U.S. in the early 1900s, where monumental buildings and cultural institutions were established to further promote 20th century urbanism at the time. Many cities like San Francisco and San Diego hosted expositions, and Expo Park, although never having hosted a World's Fair or formal exposition, was part of that trend. Exposition, like today's Grand Park, was re-modeled and re-branded from the old Agricultural Park and opened with the museum, as well as a National Guard Armory and an Exposition Building (which became the California Museum of Science an Industry, now California ScienCenter).

The museum has changed and grown over the years; the art component spun-off into its own museum in the early 1960s as LACMA on the county-owned Rancho La Brea property, and the adjacent George C. Page Museum in the 1970s.

Manifesto

A 100% Los Angeles native, the Militant Angeleno lives in a compound in an unspecified neighborhood of central Los Angeles. His life consists largely of his various adventures around the city, which are documented in this blog. The Militant is also multi-modal and is not dependent on any one mode of transportation, although he is most known for traversing the City's streets via bicycle. The Militant can be described as part-activist, part-superhero, giving the voice to the voiceless and silencing those who just plain whine too much. Partly because of his selfless motives, he prefers to refer to himself in the third person, as the first-person is too self-centered. The Militant is anonymous and goes to great lengths to protect his identity and is aided and protected by an unspecified number of operatives, who are sworn to secrecy as to his identity. Most important, the Militant's ultimate objective is not to be the Militant Angeleno, but to empower and enlighten other Angelenos, so that they may be militants in their own right. Oh yeah, Go Dodgers!

Contacting The Militant Angeleno

Do you have a question for the Militant Angeleno (sorry, all questions regarding his identity will be ignored)? Would you like to send hate mail (or love mail, even)? Do you want to know how you can join the Angeleno Militia? Here's how!